3rd Edition
Social Theory Re-Wired New Connections to Classical and Contemporary Perspectives
This third edition of Social Theory Re-Wired is a significantly revised edition of this leading text and its unique web learning interactive programs that "allow us to go farther into theory and to build student skills than ever before," according to many teachers. Vital political and social updates are reflected both in the text and the online supplements. "System updates" to each section offer an expanded set of contemporary theory readings that focus on the impacts of information/digital technologies on each of the text’s five big themes: 1) the Puzzles of Social Order, 2) the Social Consequences of Capitalism, 3) the Darkside of Modernity, 4) Subordinated/Alternative Knowledges, and 5) Self-Identity and Society.
New to this edition:
- The "big ideas/questions" thematic structure of the text as well as the connections between classical and contemporary theorists continues to be popular with instructors. This feature is enhanced in the new edition
- An expanded "Podcast Companions" series now pairs at least one podcast to every reading in the book
- Many new updates to the exercise platform allow students to theorize and build theory on their own
- New readings excerpts include such important recent work as: Shoshana Zuboff’s "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism," Ruha Benjamin’s "Race After Technology," David Graeber’s "Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit," Sherry Turkle’s “Always-On/Always-on-You.”
Preface
I. EMERGENCE THROUGH CONVERGENCE: The Puzzles of Social Order
Introductory Essay: "The Virus that Changed Our World"
Classical Connections
Emile Durkheim, The Rules of Sociological Method
Emile Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society
Emile Durkheim, Suicide
Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
Contemporary Extensions
Harold Garfinkel, Studies in Ethnomethodology
Bruno Latour, Mixing Humans and Nonhumans Together: The Sociology of a Door-Closer
Mark Granovetter, The Strength of Weak Ties
Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality
System Update
Manuel Castells, "Materials for an Exploratory Theory of the Network Society"
II. NETWORKS OF CAPITAL: Dimensions of Global Capitalism
Introductory Essay: "The Redditors Who Took Down a Giant (Sort Of)"
Classical Connections
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The German Ideology
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party
Karl Marx, Capital
Karl Marx, "Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844"
Contemporary Extensions
Immanuel Wallerstein, "The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist System"
Cedric Robinson, Black Marxism
Pierre Bourdieu, "The Forms of Capital"
Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction
Raka Ray and Seemin Qayum, Cultures of Servitude
System Update
Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
III. PATHWAY TO MELTDOWN: Theorizing the Dark Side of Modernity
Introductory Essay: "Do You Ever Get the Feeling You’re Being Watched?"
Classical Connections
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Max Weber, "Basic Sociological Terms"
Max Weber, "The Types of Legitimate Domination"
Max Weber, "Bureaucracy"
Contemporary Extensions
Herbert Marcuse, One–Dimensional Man
Jurgen Habermas, Toward a Rational Society
Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish
Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust
System Update
David Graeber, "Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit"
IV. SHIFTING THE PARADIGM: Excluded Voices, Alternative Knowledges
Introductory Essay:
Classical Connections
W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
Contemporary Extensions
Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks
Edward Said, Orientalism
Dorothy Smith, The Conceptual Practices of Power
Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought
Julian Go, Postcolonial Thought and Social Theory
System Update
Ruha Benjamin, Race After Technology
V. RISE OF THE AVATAR: Connecting Self and Society
Introductory Essay: "Through the Looking Glass of TikTok"
Classical Connections
George Herbert Mead, "Self"
Georg Simmel, "The Metropolis and Mental Life"
Georg Simmel, "The Stranger"
Contemporary Extensions
Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
Judith Butler, Gender Trouble
Stuart Hall, "Cultural Identity and Diaspora"
Anthony Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity
System Update
Sherry Turkle, "Always-On/Always-On-You: The Tethered Self"
Glossary
Index
Biography
Wesley Longhofer is Associate Professor of Organization and Management at Emory University.
Daniel Winchester is Associate Professor of Sociology at Purdue University
"Longhofer and Winchester have produced the best social theory textbook on the market today. Comprehensive, clever, and well-organized, this new 3rd edition provides instructors with plenty of resources to engage undergraduate students both online and in the classroom. Highly recommended!"
-- Manfred B. Steger, Professor of Sociology, University of Hawai'i-Manoa and author of What Is Global Studies? (Routledge, 2017).
"No other social theory reader brings together the essential excerpts of the classics with this diversity of contemporary extensions in quite the same way as Social Theory Re-wired. Students appreciate the accessible examples of theory applied to social problems. The online learning resources offer valuable study support. By the semester’s end, my students are knowledgeable of the canon and skilled in constructing their own evidence-based arguments."
-- Selina Gallo-Cruz, Associate Professor of Sociology, Syracuse University
"Social Theory Re-wired, by Winchester and Longhofer, provides a well-selected sample of the ‘classics’ while also encouraging instructors and students to expand their understanding of what theory (and sociology) can be. Their section introductions are accessible and encourage the use of the readings to better understand the complexities of the contemporary moment—everything from social media re-shaping the way we dance to viruses re-shaping society. This reader will help breathe new life into my Sociological Theory course."
-- Kyle Green, Associate Professor of Sociology, SUNY, Brockport
